Too late, yet too good for our past heroes!

It was all toothpaste smiles, we are told, at the Conference Room of the Ministry of Youth and Sports yesterday when the veterans’ veterans of Ghana football, the ex-Black Stars of the Africa Cup winning teams of 1963, ‘65, ‘78 and ‘82, received their just cash rewards from the nation for the invaluable services they rendered in the past.

Indeed, these were rare epochs in the footballing life of Independent Ghana and it is significant that these heroes, some of who had long passed into eternity, are being remembered and rewarded.

As it is often said, a nation that does not honour its heroes and heroines is not worth dying for. That is why even though it has taken such a long time for the redemption of the pledge by successive governments to reward these group of national football heroes, we deem it better later than never. 

It is in view of this that we throw our hat to the President of the Republic and his government for living up to the pledge he made to the oldies at a banquet in June prior to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

This, we believe, should serve as motivation for all Ghanaians of diverse sporting endeavour that there is honour, pride and reward in competing for one’s country since it appears the absence of such recognition in this age of obscene materialism is what is driving the new generation of athletes into half-hearted endeavours for their country.

It must have come as a crying shame, the embarrassment that the Black Stars caused the nation at the Brazil World Cup over agitation for money (appearance fees) which resulted in the worst ever performance by Ghana at the FIFA flagship event after stellar performances at the 2006 debut in Germany and the quarterfinal epoch at South Africa 2010.

We feel sad to recount the unprofessional or rather unpatriotic stance of the players and their officials in the demand for the appearance fee or no more game in Brazil as though the world was coming to an end.

In a sense, the players and their officials might have felt justified in their demands against the backdrop of the apparent abject poverty that some of the Stars of yester year are in and for which the nation is believed to have been cursed.

But following yesterday’s historic gesture by the nation (reaching out in a big way to the oldies), whatever curses they might have previously rained on the nation should be revoked for our national teams to be filled with the winning spirit at the highest levels, once more.

It has been 32 long years since Ghana won the Africa Nations Cup for the unprecedented fourth time before Egypt began to run amok (now with seven wins). So, it is our hope that the new feeling of excitement among the oldies will free the Stars of the speculated stranglehold.

However, there are still murmurs in some quarters that not all the achievers of the four Cup-winning teams have been settled and we believe this might have been a genuine oversight on the part of those who collated the names for the cash reward.

Of significant omission, as our attention has been drawn to, were the names of Dr Joe Ofori-Atta and WO 11 Amartey Armah (Saicochi), the medical officer and masseur respectively of the technical team in the historic triumph in Libya, Tripoli.

The other technical team members were coaches C.K Gyamfi (head), Osam Duodo and EK Afranie, all of whom are beneficiaries of the injury time largesse, and why not Saicochi and Dr Ofori Atta?

This is a mistake that must be corrected, especially in these times when even management team officials are believed to be appropriating to themselves appearance fees.

Meanwhile, we say kudos once again to President Mahama, his former Minister of Youth and Sports, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, and the current minister of the sector, Mahama Ayariga, for ensuring that the oldies have had their just reward.